As the 4th of July holiday approaches, your thoughts might wander to backyard barbecues, pool parties and time spent with family and friends. This is also a wonderful time of year to buy or sell a home. In either case, I hope you’ll let me help you get started. In the meantime, here’s some advice to spruce up your garden and decorate your kitchen.
Seller Advice
Portable Gardens For Curb Appeal
Plants and flowers can accent your home’s personality and make it more appealing to homebuyers. A portable garden is perfect for styling a porch, entry or walkway and you can take it with you when you sell your home!
Follow these easy tips to make sure your portable garden thrives:
Pick the right container. You need to have enough space for plants to grow to full size and proper drainage holes so they don’t waterlog.
Use fresh potting soil. Good potting soil doesn’t clump and allows roots to spread. It contains nutrients to give plants a good head start.
Group plants according to sun and water requirements. A mix of cascading plants, tall leafy plants and various flowers make a beautiful composition. You can even mix in edibles like vegetables and herbs but make sure all plants housed together require the same amount of sun and water.
Water frequently. Container gardens dry out quickly, especially smaller pots. Check that the container is draining properly and you don’t have to worry about overwatering. Water daily in warm weather.
Bigger is better. Larger containers hold more soil, allow plants to grow larger, offer more room for variety and require less frequent watering.
Homeowner Advice
How To Decorate Your Kitchen With White Hues
Kitchens decorated with mostly white hues never seem to go out of style, but there’s a fine line between white that’s serene and beautiful and white that’s stark and clinical. If you love the color white, here are some tips to make your white kitchen modern and sophisticated:
Include a little grey. Choosing a light grey with white will give your kitchen some dimension.
Go monochromatic. If you look at paint colors, tiles, countertops and appliances, there are hundreds of white colors available. Each hue of white has an undertone, typically blue or yellow. Choose the shade you like best and make sure all the white colors you use are in the same family.
Break it up. White brings drama with black matte appliances. Or choose a backsplash in a color to repeat in curtains, glassware or placemats.
Bring the outdoors in. A great view of backyard landscaping can bring nature’s browns, greens and blues indoors.
Pop your white colors with art. Your only “color” might be a contemporary painting with splashes of red, orange or blue. Serving dishes or enameled cookware can repeat the colors.
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